The Somali Interior and National Security Ministry has announced plans to relocate thousands of displaced families living in camps all across Mogadishu.

The announcement was made by the Interior and National Security Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled after meeting representatives of both local and international aid agencies in Mogadishu.

The local Mogadishu municipality hopes to refurbish the capital as the government is also busy renovating the badly ruined state buildings and offices.

Muslim countries among them Turkey and Iran began the process of returning the displaced to their homes a year ago after the United Nations declared an end to famine in South and Central regions of Somalia.

The Iranian Red crescent resettled hundreds of families and also equipped them with sufficient aid to last them for several months.

The displaced have welcomed the government’s decision and have called for immediate resettlement from the congested camps. The government plans on providing food rations, clean drinking water as well as free education and healthcare to the returning families.

International aid agencies and Islamic organizations like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have expressed concern over the continuous fighting in some areas of Somalia and the wave of displacement in the war-torn country. More than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa were affected by the 2011 famine.